Revitalising Indigenous-state relations in Australia . This project aims to investigate the complexity of Indigenous affairs governance and the ongoing tensions in the relationship between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the Australian state. The project expects to generate new data on contemporary Indigenous governance arrangements and analyse them using an original conceptual framework to inform knowledge-exchange workshops designed to advance proposed new approaches. Expecte ....Revitalising Indigenous-state relations in Australia . This project aims to investigate the complexity of Indigenous affairs governance and the ongoing tensions in the relationship between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the Australian state. The project expects to generate new data on contemporary Indigenous governance arrangements and analyse them using an original conceptual framework to inform knowledge-exchange workshops designed to advance proposed new approaches. Expected outcomes of this project include concrete proposals for re-setting Indigenous-settler relations and Indigenous affairs policy. This should provide significant benefits in the field of Indigenous governance including plans for more genuine transformation in Australian Indigenous-settler relations.Read moreRead less
The organised interest system in Australian public policy: Size, focus, impact and transformation. Organised interest systems that seek to influence public policy-making are undergoing rapid transformation. Some researchers focus on the post-war professionalisation of advocacy; others suggest that the internet is positively (re)shaping the structure of such systems and their democratic capacities. This project adjudicates on such accounts through exploring the size and composition, through time, ....The organised interest system in Australian public policy: Size, focus, impact and transformation. Organised interest systems that seek to influence public policy-making are undergoing rapid transformation. Some researchers focus on the post-war professionalisation of advocacy; others suggest that the internet is positively (re)shaping the structure of such systems and their democratic capacities. This project adjudicates on such accounts through exploring the size and composition, through time, of the Australian system of organised interests. Using innovative methodologies, it assesses the presence and prominence of particular interests in legislative, administrative, print-media and ‘on-line’ arenas. Through a theoretically original, national case study, it will contribute to international scholarship in this important area. Read moreRead less
Do public inquiries matter? tracking inquiry implementation in Australia. This project aims to assess the effectiveness of public inquiries. Governments rely on public inquiries yet we know little about the extent to which they facilitate policy learning. This project will track the implementation of recommendations generated by federal inquiries in Australia since 2000: evaluating the extent to which recommendations were implemented and the difference they have made. Expected outcomes include a ....Do public inquiries matter? tracking inquiry implementation in Australia. This project aims to assess the effectiveness of public inquiries. Governments rely on public inquiries yet we know little about the extent to which they facilitate policy learning. This project will track the implementation of recommendations generated by federal inquiries in Australia since 2000: evaluating the extent to which recommendations were implemented and the difference they have made. Expected outcomes include academic findings and best practice guidance to government about the contemporary value of inquiries. The findings may support a best-practice manual for public officials.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100603
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$337,000.00
Summary
Understanding the Causes of Political Trust through Survey Experiments. This project intends to improve our understanding of the drivers of political trust and point to ways that political trust could be improved. Despite the importance of political trust to the functioning of democratic systems, we have no experimental data on what the causes of political trust are, and political trust has been said to have reached crisis levels in many democracies. By integrating existing survey data with expe ....Understanding the Causes of Political Trust through Survey Experiments. This project intends to improve our understanding of the drivers of political trust and point to ways that political trust could be improved. Despite the importance of political trust to the functioning of democratic systems, we have no experimental data on what the causes of political trust are, and political trust has been said to have reached crisis levels in many democracies. By integrating existing survey data with experiments in five established democracies, this project aims to identify the causes of political trust and how these differ by country. Understanding political trust and how it can be improved may provide input to successful policies to deal with challenges such as ageing populations and environmental change.Read moreRead less
Policy agendas in the Australian Commonwealth Government. Who leads the agenda: the government; the public or the media? Is legislation 'normal business' or a response to crisis? Does changing the government really change much? By systematically analysing legislation, the media and public opinion over a forty year period this project can answer these questions more thoroughly than ever before.
The institutional dynamics of banking crisis and reform in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and Canada. The recent banking crisis is an event of compelling policy significance. This project examines its causes and, in particular, aims to explain why the Australian and Canadian banking systems proved relatively resilient during the crisis and why the United Kingdom and United States proved so vulnerable.
Prime ministers: explaining why some succeed and others fail. Some prime ministers succeed but others fail, even though both nominally have the same powers. Why is there a difference? This project will examine their statecraft to explain how they use those powers in Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Canada and with what effect.
Hierarchy to high-performance? Evaluating 30yrs of Senior Executive Service. This project aims to evaluate whether Senior Executive Service (SES) schemes, introduced in the public sector the 1980s, have enabled the delivery of superior performance. This study will examine all nine Australian jurisdictions, across time in order to identify how and why institutional frameworks changed, analyse the composition of the SES and identify their changing roles and accountabilities. The expected outcomes ....Hierarchy to high-performance? Evaluating 30yrs of Senior Executive Service. This project aims to evaluate whether Senior Executive Service (SES) schemes, introduced in the public sector the 1980s, have enabled the delivery of superior performance. This study will examine all nine Australian jurisdictions, across time in order to identify how and why institutional frameworks changed, analyse the composition of the SES and identify their changing roles and accountabilities. The expected outcomes will provide a better understanding of the profile and roles of executives who lead policy development and service delivery, and an evaluation of whether current institutional frameworks optimise their capacity to perform their role.Read moreRead less
Cabinet Government in comparative perspective. This project explores how cabinet government is, or is not, able to develop a collective will. Cabinets lie at the heart of parliamentary systems, but public and academic analyses question whether they work effectively. Using examples of majoritarian and consensus democratic regimes, this project plans to examine how cabinets work and identify the different functions cabinet plays in developing collective views of policy or political situations. The ....Cabinet Government in comparative perspective. This project explores how cabinet government is, or is not, able to develop a collective will. Cabinets lie at the heart of parliamentary systems, but public and academic analyses question whether they work effectively. Using examples of majoritarian and consensus democratic regimes, this project plans to examine how cabinets work and identify the different functions cabinet plays in developing collective views of policy or political situations. The project expects to illustrates how the different appreciations of cabinet, whether seen as constitutional or operational, or in terms of policy analysis or political contests, help define the values of cabinet and can allow us to understand in what circumstances cabinet government is important in terms of stability and sensible policy. It asks if collective cabinets like Australia's can survive in the 21st century.Read moreRead less
Innovative democracy? Changing approaches to citizen engagement in Australia, the UK and Denmark. Many question the future of representative democracy in its current form given growing levels of civic disengagement. This project charts, explains and critically examines government responses to this disengagement in three countries, Australia, the UK and Denmark, and across three policy areas, environment, immigration and youth.